Map Monday: The Twin Cities’ Urban Heat Island

With this cold snap bringing temps into –15º territory, I was reminded that a few weeks back I posted Minnesota’s Carbon Donut, a map showing which parts of the state of Minnesota have households contributing a larger carbon footprint. With current temps it is probably worth a map on the urban heat island of the Twin Cities.

In September, 2015, The Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology published a study [link to the abstract] by Brian V. Smoliak, Peter K. Snyder, Tracy E. Twine, Phillip M. Mykleby, and William F. Hertel from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Soil, Water, and Climate.

The University of Minnesota’s Institute of the Environment posted an article about the study, which is when it caught my attention, back on November 18, 2015. The researchers placed 180 sensors around the backyards and parks of the Twin Cities metro. The sensors recorded the variations in temperature across the region and across the seasons. You can see how in summer the UHI effect stands out more at night while in winter it is in daytime. It’s also fascinating to see the geographic pattern, for instance you can see the I94/US10 corridor. Other features like the airport, the downtowns make their presence visible here too.

The article from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of the Environment has this map (click the map for higher detail):

The distribution of temperatures across the Twin Cities urban heat island averaged over nighttime and daytime, by season.

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About Eric Anondson

Born in St. Louis Park and lived there nearly 28 years and currently living in Hopkins for the past 9 years. Eric's hopped around two years or so at a time in Loring Park, Laurel Village, Snell-Ham, Whittier, and Golden Valley.
He's employed as a trainer for a California-based company with a fruit logo.
On Twitter as @xeoth.